חֶסֶד

 chesed  (steadfast love)

Chesed is to stand in solidarity with one another--regularly, persistently, and consistently.  Chesed  is to tie one's fate to the fate of the O/other.  Chesed is then to honor our commitments and and to be reliable partners on the road of life.  Steadfast love means that we will stand and stay on task regardless of hurdles, impediments, differences, or cost.  Even when the Domination System or the wider culture might seek to de-humanize, objectify, colonize, or trivialize another, distance or de-value, break relationship with God's good creation, or commodify value, steadfast love knows your name.  The Living God will not be mocked or duped by name-calling or faulty facts.  Steadfast love is profoundly non-violent, hoping against hope for transformation.   But it begins among the poor and oppressed the outcast and the sinner, the sick and the dying.  As they weave together community on the backstrap loom of steadfast love, perhaps chaotically and beautifully, like a murmuration of starlings or ever-flowing like an underground stream, God's power is made manifest.  The rhythm of steadfast love always includes Sabbath for rest, play, celebration, and fun.